Since the mid-19th century, U.S. philanthropy has played a critical role in funding major scientific discoveries, fueling our nation’s economic growth and development. Today, we face many national and global challenges that can be addressed through science, among them climate change, new energy demands, food and water shortages, and nuclear threats.
It is time for the scientific community — including government, nonprofit research institutions, and business — to fully embrace philanthropy as a critical strategic partner in advancing a national science agenda that embraces our challenges and employs scientific research to identify solutions for the benefit of humanity. At the same time, we call on philanthropic funders to engage with and support science. With the mounting challenges we face come new opportunities to build a stronger, more resilient innovation network that will lead with scientific discoveries around AI, quantum computing and biotechnologies, among many others.
It is imperative that we prioritize strengthening our national research enterprise. The power of science and technology is essential to a robust economy, a fact that other nations have already recognized. Several countries outspend the U.S. on R&D relative to their gross domestic product, a trend that we cannot ignore.
Science is both a source of competition on the global stage and the key to cooperative solutions to global challenges ranging from climate disruption to an aging population. Philanthropy can lead in taking a clear-headed approach to distinguishing safe domains for global scientific cooperation from areas that may pose security or other risks. Such an enlightened approach can protect national interests on all sides while supporting collaboration to solve shared, global problems.
Science can empower us to create a better future for generations to come. It holds the promise of a healthier population, a more sustainable planet, and more career opportunities for an expanding STEM workforce.
We need a bold, strategic partnership to lead this mission — one that unites the full power of government, business, academia and philanthropy.
Each partner brings different strengths and approaches to this enterprise. Government has vast resources; it typically uses established methods of review and selection that can exclude creative, new ideas that require risk-taking. Industry invests vast amounts of money in application development — the products and services and technology that can be converted to commercial use. Academia educates the intellectual workforce and does a large part of the precise and demanding work of basic scientific research.
Philanthropy has a distinctive role. It has a special purchase on speed, flexibility, versatility, and risk-taking. It can cut through red tape to get things done and has no need to demonstrate financial returns on its investment. It can assess the impact of its giving quickly and pivot as needed. And increasingly, it can mobilize resources to scale.
Philanthropy has so amplified its investment in basic science over the years that it is almost at par with federal funding of basic research at universities and research institutions. During the 1960s, federal funding accounted for more than 75% of support for basic research at these entities; by 2021, it had declined to about 50%. Meanwhile, philanthropic funding for basic research increased from less than 20% of total support in the 1960s to an estimated 40%, or $24.7 billion, in 2021.
The scope of philanthropic investment in the science infrastructure has expanded, as well. In 2022, John and Ann Doerr gifted Stanford University $1.1 billion to launch a school of sustainability — the largest donation in the university’s history. Stephen Schwarzman, cofounder of Blackstone, donated $350 million to establish a new computer science school at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gifts of this magnitude can be game changers — and we can expect to see more of them as private wealth in the U.S. grows.
According to the first Scientific Philanthropy Indicators Report, published in 2023 by the Science Philanthropy Alliance, philanthropy currently favors investing in biological, biomedical and health sciences, with over 70% of nonprofit funding for science research and development at universities devoted to these fields. Yet philanthropy has the potential to transform less-funded fields such as ocean and marine sciences, which account for less than 2% of science R&D spending at universities across all sources.
Over the years, philanthropic support has accelerated the careers of many scientific stars, especially women and researchers from underrepresented groups. Andrea Ghez, a Nobel-Prize-winning astrophysicist, received significant philanthropic support at critical times in her career from the Heising-Simons Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Three of the U.S. women who won the Nobel Prize in recent years were Packard Fellows in their early careers. Philanthropy has the power to broaden participation in science.
Given the challenges the world faces — including climate change, the rise of artificial intelligence and the threat of future pandemics — we need philanthropy on board as a strategic partner in the research enterprise. We need both its resources and its ability to accomplish ambitious and often critical science research. Recognizing the power of philanthropy, the National Academies has formally adopted and incorporated philanthropy into its roundtable of national leaders from government, industry and universities who are charged with advancing the U.S. scientific research enterprise through open dialogue.
Much more needs to be done. We need an investment in the basic science infrastructure, including human capital, that matches our nation’s investment in industrial infrastructure. We need secure, long-term funding for science from all sources. And we need a comprehensive U.S. science strategy informed by the voices of all the relevant partners that identifies and affirms the critical challenges facing us, prioritizes investments, and takes the long view to harness the power of science for humanity. Philanthropy stands ready to help shape our shared future.
France Córdova, PhD, is president and board member of the Science Philanthropy Alliance. She is the former director of the National Science Foundation.
Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD, is president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and chair of the Science Philanthropy Alliance board. Fineberg is the former president of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine.
Michael W. Nestor, PhD, is board director of the Government-University-Industry-Philanthropy Research Roundtable within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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